


6 feet of dirt (would look great on you)

by linabauer



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler, 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:08:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28445907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/linabauer/pseuds/linabauer
Summary: In a world of Abilities, there are other otherworldly beings too, one of which are Shinigamis.Dazai Osamu is one.-AU in which Dazai is a reaper-in-training under Mori.Kuroshitsuji-BSD fusion, canon-compliant (mostly)[No need to watch Black Butler to understand the content of this work]-"I'm in. Nice to meet you, Mori-san, I'm-""Dazai Osamu," Mori interjects.Shuuji raises an eyebrow, staring blankly."Your name is Dazai Osamu. Dazai-kun, nice to meet you."
Relationships: Dazai Osamu & Elise (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai Osamu & Mori Ougai (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai Osamu & Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	1. The Beginning

The night it started was a nice breezy spring. Yokohama was different from Tokyo, the nights were tense and shadows lurking instead of peaceful and calm. Tsushima Shuuji decided that he liked it more.

Shuuji had been around for a few weeks already, and he likes to say that he's got some semblance of a routine. He liked to be up and about in the dead of the night and early in the morning, where the alleyways were dark and stores closed, streets empty. Usual gang activities were minor, he realised. He could easily avoid them, his limber body managing to duck and weave through alleyways and attacks with accuracy.

He did not require much sleep nor sustenance, but he liked to swipe some cash from an unsuspecting passer-by to buy some bread occasionally. He did know he needed food, after all. Water was easy, he had managed to get his body used to the dirty water from the lakes or the occasional water cooler he spotted.

In the daytimes, he eavesdropped on people's conversations. Such fascinating lives they led, clearly the citizens of Yokohama were the pinnacle of model citizens.

They were like tiny ants, scurrying around and doing their day jobs, desperately making money and using money and making more money and spending it. What a repetitive cycle, what a bore.

The nights, however, were different. Different from Tokyo, where he grew up in in elite society, different from the relaxed atmosphere in the day of Yokohama.

They were tense. They were dangerous. They smelled of possible death at the next bend.

It was a general rule to avoid the bars and port from 7pm onwards, apparently. Shuuji was never a sticker for rules anyways.

Life was so dull, so boring and monochromatic, one could only feel from pain, be freed by death.

The general gist of Yokohama night life was this: a shadow organisation, dubbed the Port Mafia, was on top of the hierarchy. The other minor gangs were below, simple as that.

The Port Mafia had manpower, capital, and most importantly, ability users.

There weren't many ability users in Tokyo, and Shuuji had always wanted to meet one of them. Of course, there was the one ability user he met, when he sneaked into a meeting with his parents, but he turned out to be a fraud.

He was later sued in court, of course. Only the best for the Tsushimas, was the Tsushima family motto. They were a well known family in business and economics, who also had suspect ties with the Yakuza clan in Aoyama, not that Shuuji's ever met a Yakuza member.

Life in Tokyo was boring. He didn't need to study much, a glance at the material and he would be able to understand and retain the information. He conquered simple arithmetic when he was 4, learned calculus when he was 9. He started speaking Japanese when he was 2, mastered English when he was 10, proficient in Russian, passable in French.

Of course, people envied him, praised him, their sweet, noxious lies covering Shuuji during formal functions and drowning him with their cloying, bitter taste. People either wanted to be him, wanted to have a child like him or hated him because he was him.

Shuuji's parents often went overseas on business trips, leaving Shuuji alone in the huge mansion. It was empty and cold, it always felt empty and cold. One day he woke up and he realised he could not feel anything but numbness and boredom. Tsushima Shuuji is 10 years old when he starts to cut himself. Tsushima Shuuji is 11 years old when he starts to drown himself. Tsushima Shuuji is 12 years old when he throws himself off roofs.

Tsushima Shuuji is 13 years old when he burns down the Tsushima mansion and disappears.


	2. Intermission #1

Shuuji peaks out from behind the curtains, where he was hiding. He was dressed in a formal suit, ready to attend whatever business function his parents were invited to then, but they had told him to wait outside for a moment as they had to do "adult things". Like hell was Shuuji going to wait! He was heir, anyways, he should be exposed to such livelihoods in preparation for the future!

"I heard they're bringing in an ability user," Shuuji hears a pretentious lady dressed in emerald green silk whisper conspiratorily.

"I'm so jealous of ability users, if I were one, I would wish for my ability to be able to apply makeup without fuss!" Another lady laughs.

"So true, the beauty blenders and sponges are such a pain to wash," the third lady of the trio sighs, fanning herself with a decorative fan made of lace.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please, we welcome Yuma Kiyotaka of Nagoya!" The announcer says.

There's polite clapping.

"Hello everyone, good evening, I am here to present to you my ability, Now You See Me," Kiyotaka-san says, giving a charming smile.

Shuuji glanced at him. New clothes for the meeting, shoes polished and well taken care off under the shine. Small rectangle shaped bulge in his back trouser pocket, probably a pack of cards, lighter or cigarette pack.

"My ability allows me to turn invisible, now watch."

The attendees lean forward in their seats.

Shuuji slips from behind the curtain to the one closest to the man.

"Ability: Now You See Me!"

There's a blinding flash of light, and Shuuji flinches, squinting against it.

(He makes a mental note to research on the effects of too much light exposure on the human eyes and body, was it how white room torture worked?)

Shuuji suddenly feels a foot on his shoe.

Oh no.

Father would not be pleased.

Suddenly, the light abruptly fades.

Shuuji tears his foot back, not breathing.

"Hey, Kiyotaka-kun is still there!" Someone yells.

"Aren't you supposed to be invisible?"

"Is he a fake?"

Kiyotaka looks visibly confused.

"I apologise, I let go too early, let me do this again. Ability: Now You See Me!"

Again, the light shines, and Shuuji squints against it. His vision is becoming slightly hazy, he wonders…

Something brushes against his fingers and Shuuji flinches back.

The light immediately disappears.

"He's still there!"

"What is this second rate show?"

"Is he even for real?"

The crowd becomes visibly discontent.

"No wait! I-"

"I was going to invite him to a party of mine, but-"

Kiyotaka backs up and knocks into Shuuji. Shuuji freezes.

Kiyotaka frowns and draws the curtains.

The Tsushimas gasp. "Shuuji! We told you to stay outside!"

"It was him! He did something to my ability, I could feel it!" Kiyotaka announces, pointing at Shuuji.

Shuuji's eyes flick around at each guest, stuck on the stage like a fly.

"How dare you blame your failure on our son!" Shuuji's mother screeches. The other guests nod in agreement.

The announcer comes on stage, visibly flustered.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, settle down, Kiyotaka-san, please, this way."

"The boy did something, I swear! Thief!"

Shuuji blankly stares at him.

He did this?

"I didn't do anything," Shuuji pleads, turning to his parents, who were coming on stage to get him.

"I didn't."

"We know, son."

His father's eyes were hard, his mother's were unforgiving and embarrassed.

"Monster, stealing my ability," Kiyotaka hisses.

"It wasn't me," Shuuji repeats, and he doesn't know if he's saying it to Kiyotaka, himself or his parents.


	3. The End of The Beginning

Tsushima Shuuji is 14 when he snaps. He calculated the angle of his desent, his trajectory, and the impact that would most likely be enough to shatter his skull.

It's been a while since his last attempt, which was sleeping pills, but he hadn't calculated the right dosage. Turns out, the pills were faulty and they were cheap imitations of the real deal. He had woken up with a blinding headache, nausea, and an overwhelming abdominal pain.

He hated pain.

His life's motto was to commit a pure, cheerful, energetic suicide, not a painful, desperate and inconvenient one!

Tsushima Shuuji has one last drink of the remnants of his sparkling fruit juice before he plummets over the edge.

-

When Shuuji realises he's being poked, he jolts upwards.

He's in a small clinic, it's evening and dim outside, curtains drawn halfway and smell of clinics wafting through the air.

A blond girl dressed in a red dress stands beside his bed.

"Wait," she commands before ringing a bell.

A man in a doctor's coat enters.

"Good, you're up. How do you feel?"

How did he feel? He did not feel, he could not-

Shuuji scowls.

"Damn. Who was it that interrupted my suicide this time?" Shuuji complains, realising that no, he did not taste the sweet release of death.

"Hello. I'm Mori, and I'm a doctor. Someone left you on my doorstep."

"Well, you should have left me there to die!" Shuuji whines, uncaring of how childish he seems. He was so close! How could he have messed up, he even heard the impact of his head hitting the sidewalk-

Shuuji's eyes narrow.

"Who are you? What's the date? Where am I?" Shuuji transitions.

"Before you jump out of there and attempt to kill me," Mori-sensei interjects, "hear me out first. You are in an underground clinic of neutral grounds, owned by me. I do not know who put you at my doorstep, only that I woke up to my assistant shaking me awake and informing me of someone at the door. You were also medically dead when I first checked."

"Then what curse is this?" Shuuji groans.

"You see, I'm no ordinary doctor. I'm what you would call a Shinigami, or ex-Shinigami anyways," Mori-sensei concedes, looking somewhat amused at Shuuji's deadpan stare.

"Prove it," Shuuji boredly replies, although that has perked up his curiosity.

"As you wish," Mori replies, and scalpels fly to his hands. Mori picks one and flicks it around disinterestedly, and it extends to a full scythe.

"That's arguably a party trick," Shuuji taunts. Maybe if he baited the death god, he would be able to die-

"You'll have to take my word for it then, I'm not really meant to reap anyone's soul anymore, I, ah, retired, but I still keep my scythes and abilities."

Shuuji sighs and flops back onto his pillow. "Boo, boring."

"Your soul was a very flighty one, it reeked of mischief, boredom and misery," Mori conversationally says.

"Yeah, because I was so close to dying! I'm assuming you saved me from the brink of death or whatever?" Shuuji asks.

"That I did. However, there's one important detail I have not mentioned yet. You are now part-Shinigami. See, Shinigamis judge souls. Your life plays out in something we call 'Cinematic Records'. We have the power to send your soul to be recycled, or to be punished. There's also a waiting room, but those cases are rare and only if there aren't enough Shinigamis to attend to souls. I saw your memories, felt your emotions, or lack thereof. And I thought, why waste this potential? So I did a little thing and brought you back from the dead, oops. There are only two ways to do this, first is to recycle your soul, where you will not retain memories from your past life and live to be a new one, a fresh start. The second is to inject Divine blood, or blood of the servants of the Divine such as mine, to the living being in question. So, congratulations, you're now a Shinigami."

Shuuji outwardly stays stoic, but on the inside? He doesn't know if he should be despairing from the lack of death, or surprised at the information.

He, Tsushima Shuuji, a Shinigami.

"It can be quite a bit to take in, but I think you can handle it. Besides, you won't formally go through Shinigami training as I'm no longer in active duty, and you do have my blood, after all, which is all the Shinigami you have in you biologically. So, if you agree, you could stay here with me and I could teach you some things. You seem like the kidn to appreciate knowledge more than trivial things like love and care, which I assure you, I am very much incapable of, or at least the conventional way. So, what do you say?"

Shuuji considers his choices.

"I'm in. Nice to meet you, Mori-san, I'm-"

"Dazai Osamu," Mori interjects.

Shuuji raises an eyebrow, staring blankly.

"Your name is Dazai Osamu. Dazai-kun, nice to meet you."

Tsushima Shuuji is 14, turning 15 when he dies.

Dazai Osamu is 14, turning 15, when he emerges from Tsushima Shuuji's corpse as a Shinigami.


	4. The Beginning of 15 Arc

Dazai learns about Mori, about Yokohama. Mori's an underground doctor, barely legal and a neutral ground. Money was money, as long as there were no fights.

Of course, there were the occasional assassination attempts. The first time it had happened, the assailant was a buff, bulky man who wanted revenge for Mori saving his proclaimed enemy.

Dazai had shot him and let Mori take care of the body. After all, Dazai had to earn his keep, and if it was by doing the dirty work, fine by him.

Spending time with Mori was always like stepping into the ocean at high tide. He had a sort of charm that seemed superficial the longer you stayed, like getting wrinkles the longer you soak in an ocean.

Elise was, honestly, the only good companion around here. The girl, who Dazai learnt was a manifestation of Mori's ability, constantly complained about Mori and ate sweet treats. Elise also helped Dazai pester Mori for canned crab, which was always a plus.

Once every ten days, Mori takes a day off to teach Dazai. As a son of an elite business family, he's had training to become a "fine young man".

Mori's training was eye-opening, to say the least.

The death god would teach him things like philosophy, ethics, strategy, history, languages, medical knowledge and whatever he thought Dazai needed to survive. The irony of a shinigami teaching him about saints and holiness was not lost on Dazai.

Dazai manifests his reaping tool on another assassination attempt.

He had been hiding in the shadows, of course, like Mori and him had discussed, while Mori would lie there looking pathetic and pretend he wasn't like a spider weaving his web around the assassin and slowly strangling him to death while wringing out every bit of information he could from the poor man.

The man drags out a child, gangly and skinny in a different way from Dazai. The child looks tired and has bi-coloured hair, the white in a dirty gray colour, likely from dirt.

"I can hurt it, hurt my doll and let it bleed, and he will kill everyone in this city!" The man screams, looking deranged.

Dazai sees Mori's shift in attitude.

The child is definitely a threat, if Mori sees the kid as one.

Mori never taught him about Shinigamis or their abilities, always saying that he'll teach Dazai once he manifests. Dazai could die from curiosity and Mori wouldn't care, the annoying doctor.

"Your, doll, you say?" Mori asks, eyes calculating.

The man grins. "It is my proudest creation! It escaped from the sewers and landed right into my rat trap. And you will taste it's might!"

"Yumeno-kun," Mori begins, "are you happy with being a doll?"

The child stares up at him with gleaming eyes, pupils in the shapes of stars.

Dazai doesn't want to admit it, but it's frankly, quite creepy.

"I can make a beautiful doll for you, if you would like that," Mori continues, voice soothing and nothing like the Mori Dazai knew.

"Hurts," the kid, Yumeno (how Mori knew that was beyond him), whimpers.

"I can make you a doll so you won't have to hurt so much anymore, but you need to do something for me, okay?"

"What are you doing to it-"

Mori signals, and Dazai moves.

Dazai shoots at the man without mercy.

Yumeno screams, and then Dazai feels pain.

Instantly, Mori undoes his restraints and scoops Dazai up, as if he's the child.

"Listen, Yumeno-kun is going to tire himself out soon, I need you to focus, okay? Shinigamis have abilities, as you already know, and one of them is healing factor. You must have accidentally bumped into Yumeno-kun and triggered his ability, god knows when you did it but it happened. It's a mind control based ability, and it's causing you to feel pain. Your muscles are contracting and releasing at a high speed, and if it keeps up you will die. You need to manifest now," Mori murmurs, pulling off Dazai's coat as Dazai shakes and trembles.

Dazai can hear him distantly. The pain is getting worse, his body is so so tired, he wants to sleep, he never thought his death would be this painful and mundane, Mori's cool fingers holding him down as he thrashes and bites his lip to keep from screaming.

He always thought he would die a painless death, on his own terms. Dazai always was in control, he was always the one manipulating and exploiting these boring little chess pieces. His death should be the same way, him pulling the threads of life and leaving in peace.

The previous gun shots were still ringing in his ears, as if he were re-living the moment over and over again, merging with his previous kills. He thinks he sees a flash of gold and red, and he thinks, Elise, which means that Mori is near, he's probably dying and the shinigami was seeing his memories again, and god, this is not how he wants to die.

Dazai remembers a flash of bright light before he goes under, under, under

-

Dazai awakens to a pounding headache, the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, sore muscles and throbbing joints.

"Oi Rintarou!" He hears the familiar voice of Elise.

There a scuffle and he feels Mori's familiar presence beside him.

"Dazai-kun, can you open your eyes?"

Dazai wearily blinks, each movement feeling like a stab to the gut.

He's quite sure if he opens his mouth, he might vomit blood and his insides out.

Mori seems to get the idea and places a bucket in front of him.

"Better out than in," he says, and it's all the permission he needs to empty the contents of his stomach into the bin. Mori hands him a damp cloth, and Dazai wipes his mouth, faint traces of blood left on the towel.

"Lie back down. It's been about 4 hours since you passed out. I've taken care of Yumeno-kun and the filthy animal. You need to sleep and get back your strength. The first manifestation is always the worst, especially when under duress. When you wake up we'll have a talk and you'll find your reaping tool."

All business, clinical detachment of a doctor with his patient.

(You seem like the kind to appreciate knowledge more than trivial things like love and care, which I assure you, I am very much incapable of, or at least the conventional way.)

Dazai doesn't reply, only settles down into the soft pillow and curls up into a ball.

Mori gets the message either way, and leaves Elise to guard Dazai while petting his hair.

Dazai falls into an unsteady slumber.


	5. Port Mafia Boss Succession

Life goes back to normal. Dazai agrees to train under Mori to keep his abilities in control. He finds out that his reaping tool takes the form of bandages. Mori makes him keep a loaded gun on him at all times. He has physical training too, Mori helping him in combat, dodging, gaining strength and power.

Mori's up to something again, clients coming in more and more frequently. Mori even gave him a gift of a hypotension and hypertension medicine concoction for succeeding in watching someone's life reels without killing them.

Mori brings him to a building, tall, black, and definitely shady.

"I've been requested to cure the Boss, name is Mori Ougai," Mori says smoothly.

The guards, carrying huge guns, wait for the signal before letting him and Mori in.

A lady with a kimono arrives to bring them there.

Mori steps into the room, Dazai entering behind him. It's quite a rustic room, with newspaper clippings hanging on the walls, and what looks like dried blood staining the wooden flooring. A design that did not befit the modern look of the building.

"Boss," Mori says, bowing towards the bed, and in that moment, Dazai knew.

There was no way Mori Ougai would bow to someone without an alter motive.

Dazai stands near the door, black coat draped on his shoulders feeling like wings wrapped around him, distancing him from the real world.

His bandages tingle at the feel of death. Dazai's sure Mori's scalpels must be reacting the same way.

"I need you to kill them all," the old man rasps from the bed.

"That would be unwise, Boss," Mori replies, pushing the tray of supplies over.

"Kill them, the Port Mafia must rise to the top!" The man howls, then coughs violently.

"Of course, Boss," Mori smiles.

It's a smile that is a promise. A promise of death and inevitability.

Mori _smiles_ as he slits the man's throat, blood painting the walls and his face with the clean slice through the jugular, as the man chokes on his own blood and dies.

How dreadful, Mori could have just sliced through the carotid. The man must have done something terrible that had made Mori more sadistic than usual.

"The Boss has died of a serious illness. His dying wish was to have me replace him as the next boss of the Port Mafia, and you are the witness, understand?" Mori states, turning around the face Dazai, moonlight illuminating his pale features and violet eyes gleaming.

Dazai doesn't know what Mori's endgame is, but the Port Mafia is apparently one of the pieces.

And he will find out Mori's real goal.

"The ex-Boss's blood is unhygienic and like a pig's, wash it off or it will taint you," Dazai replies coolly instead.

Mori gives a rare, real chuckle as Dazai tunes the doctor's cleaning out, looking out of the window and pondering if he would die if he jumped.


	6. Intermission #2

Dazai learns to control his abilities through pain, focus, and a firm hand.

Mori first taught him how to summon his reaping tool. It required some mental stamina and strength, which Mori, the lucky bastard, had in spades due to learning how to use his ability.

Dazai got it in the end though. He could easily retrieve his bandages, could manipulate their movements and even reinforce them for restraints, though it did take more energy.

"Shinigamis reap souls, judge them, see if they should be recycled or not. Souls are metaphysical, mostly made of energy. Shinigamis can actually store this energy for themselves. You can use it for anything, energy cannot be destroyed. And that is what truly makes a Shinigami immortal, we come into such close contact with souls on a daily basis that we automatically absorb the energy. It sustains us, and once you reach a certain age, your soul does not need any more extra energy," Mori had explained.

Mori himself had already reached that age mark, as he was one of the 5 Shinigamis that lived long enough to do so. That made him much more powerful than most other beings, otherworldly or not.

Dazai had had to practice on dead bodies first, to make sure he got the mechanics right and that he didn't accidentally kill anyone pre-maturely. Mori had kept him under close supervision throughout the duration of his training, as over-exertion or one wrong step could potentially harm both reaper and reaped.

On other days, Mori tested his pain resistance.

"There are other creatures in this world that would do anything for a taste of your blood," he had said, as he strapped Dazai to a table, Dazai more worried about the fact that he didn't have his bandages with him, "sometimes, you fail to resist capture. Those are the times you have to fight back by not giving in to the pain."

Normal people would call it torture, some would call it unethical demonstrations of twisted sadism, Dazai himself called it useful.

Dazai already had a high pain tolerance, but he could still feel the phantom twitching of his muscles.

It had shaken him, more than he wanted to admit.

So he endured it. Mori would think up of whatever torture methods he could, Dazai trained and lasted. It made the end of these sessions much more rewarding, especially when Mori would quickly unstrap him from whatever device and give him a medical examination, Dazai shooing him away the entire time.

Dazai usually managed to get extra portions of sake or canned crab after a particularly harsh one, especially the psychological sessions.

Mori was a master of manipulation. Dazai longed to be as good as him, not that he'd ever tell Mori that.

Mori claimed it came with experience. Dazai just thinks that he knows too much for his own good.

War strategies. Psychology. Tricks of the underground trades. How to become more logical, cold, calculating, all the while staying in touch with humanity.

Mori interested him. Mori kept him alive. Elise pulled him from death. And now, he'd have more dogs to toy with, thanks to Mori and his own efforts.

Yes, receiving things tasted sweeter when he truly wanted it.

The Port Mafia was alive with whispers of how the new Boss and his children were inhuman, demonic, omniscient.

Dazai grins.

They have _no idea_.


	7. 15 Arc

When Dazai Osamu meets Nakahara Chuuya, it is in a dirty alleyway of Suribachi with Hirotsu Ryuurou.

Chuuya was full of life, stubborn nature apparent from the moment he kicked Dazai right into a house and nearly broke his ribs.

Dazai Osamu sees Chuuya, unpredictable, volatile, explosive and most of all, _loyal_ Chuuya, and he wonders.

-

Everything goes according to plan, of course. Chuuya becomes his chibi lapdog and agrees (read: is forced) to join the Port Mafia, the Sheep and the GSW are all taken out, and he's finally allowed to try reaping a soul as a reward by Mori!

Then Chuuya is snatched away by Kouyou-san.

Dazai is a death god, and if he weren't held back by Mori, he would have burned the building to the ground.

Okay, perhaps Chuuya was rubbing off him.

-

Sometimes, Dazai thinks that Rimbaud had pitied him. Thinks that some in the higher ranks of the Mafia did too.

Chuuya never does. Chuuya always complains about him, often going into long tangents of French too, especially when drunk or before Chuuya properly learnt Japanese.

But Dazai had to remember, Chuuya was singled out by Mori, and that made Chuuya dangerous.

Chuuya hated it when Dazai would talk about suicide. Chuuya loved life, was grateful for every second he spent breathing and living.

Dazai deduced that it was due to his time spent as a government experiment, although Chuuya himself didn't remember it.

They both took different approaches to life, evident in their personal connections, or lack thereof, in Dazai's case.

Chuuya was well liked in the Mafia, almost like a social butterfly, some foolish ones even dared develop crushes on his lapdog! The nerve! The blindness!

Dazai never did like those who had such relations with minors. Mori had taught him that consent and age was important in these situations (the talk was one of the most traumatic incidents of his life).

Dazai subtly kept Chuuya out of trouble, leashed him "like the good dog he was", Dazai would say, as Chuuya discovered wine one fine night and proceeded to declare that he was marrying alcohol in the future.

Chuuya always kept Dazai from dying, even if Chuuya didn't really know that Dazai probably wouldn't die from such trivial things. Chuuya fished him out of freezing rivers, Chuuya cut the rope that would hang him from the ceiling, Chuuya threw away all his pills and locked Dazai in a room with no sharp objects, Chuuya delivers him to Mori for medical treatment when needed while Mori would hover and chastise Dazai, Chuuya nodding along while glaring.

Chuuya kept Dazai human, yet Chuuya was willing to dirty his hands for the Mafia. Chuuya was an antithesis to the universe, a walking paradox to everything he had experienced and seen in his life.

Perhaps Mori was right about Nakahara Chuuya's recruitment which Dazai had initially been very against, after all.

They're two gods, brought together. If Chuuya is the fire, he is the ice. Chuuya is the sun and he is the moon. They were, in other words, perfectly compatible, even their souls resonated with one another (to the half dismay half intrigue of Dazai, who had bothered to check one night).

Sometimes, Dazai can't help but wonder if Mori had arranged for all of this to happen.


	8. Dark Era + Light At The End of The Tunnel

Dazai meets Oda Sakunosuke on a mission. Chuuya was away on a long-term undercover mission in France that would last for 2 to 3 months, and Dazai was, of course, bored without his lapdog to tease.

Dazai's boredom always ends up in pain or death. It's just the way it is, a solid fact, like the Sun rose in the east and set in the west.

And today, with Chuuya gone for an entire week so far, Mori unwilling to entertain him and Hirotsu away on his job, Dazai is _extremely bored_.

So Dazai requests for a mission, and gets handed one right away. Because his bored days always end up as productive days for the Mafia, when harnessed properly.

Dazai's about to get good on his threat of breaking every finger his hostage possesses when he comes.

Dressed in a tan coat, with a light stubble and hair that looked like blood under the dim lighting.

Dazai takes note of his initial appearance, his gait, his weaknesses and his ranking, evidently too low for him to know him well but high enough for him to recognize the man.

"Boss sent me to clean up," Oda says, impassively taking in the scene of a teenager threatening torture.

Dazai quickly decides which tactic he'll use to deal with Oda Sakunosuke.

"Ah, Odasaku," Dazai cheerfully replies, "Mori-san's word isn't really worth much when it comes to me! He's giving me a gift and now he's taking it away? So mean."

Dazai pouts, and he hears a few members of the enemy organisation choke at how young and innocent he sounds as compared to his lower, much darker voice just now.

Oda barely blinks at the nickname. "I'm afraid Boss is very insistent, something about the slums having another 'cinnamon roll' incident."

That perks Dazai up. Finally, something interesting.

"Ah, Mori-san wants me to do his leg work again, pooh. He'll get old and fat if he sits at his desk job for too long! He's lucky Elise-chan makes him run around so much. Fine, I'll go," Dazai gestures for his team to fall back, and they toss the men away as they scramble to put distance between them.

"Odasaku, blondie has a broken leg, I order you to leave a crate of some of our stolen goods on it. Swears-like-a-sailor-kun needs extra attention and care. Double chin-chan can be dumped into the ocean, he's got an ability so mind the teeth," Dazai instructs.

Odasaku purses his lips, as though disapproving.

Dazai's body language is mocking, as if begging Oda to fight back, to respond, to be like chibikko and say 'Oi shitty Dazai, stop making me do your work.'

But Oda doesn't. Oda glances at him with disapproving eyes, and answers, "Yes sir."

Dazai's lips curl into a faint smirk.

It's their first encounter, and definitely not their last.

-

Dazai seeks out Odasaku. He meets him in a bar called Lupin. Wolves, or Canis lupus, part of the Canidae family.

Odasaku is like Chuuya, yet not. He never killed (Chuuya kills, would kill for the Mafia, for _Mori_ ), he yearned to write (Dazai thinks he could just write and get over with it, but who was he to judge?), he rarely wore Mafia black, he never had any ambition to rise up the ranks, and he had a soft heart.

Dazai always leaves the Lupin with a sort of heaviness to his limbs and blank slate for a brain.

Maybe that's why he always comes back.

Dazai wishes to know more about life, about death, about re-birth and about all the things Mori had refused to teach him. Odasaku looks at him with knowing eyes, when Dazai pesters him to write a bit for him, when Dazai is extra cruel and suddenly extra bright with him.

Odasaku looks at him like he _pities_ him, the Demon Prodigy of the Port Mafia. The thought would be laughable, but not when the man in question had an ability that could possibly be one of the strongest abilities out there.

To be able to see 6 seconds into the future, and yet not experiment with it, not use it…

Mori has Odasaku placed on the "to watch" list, and Mori has always been the sharpest when it comes to danger.

(Star shaped pupils blink at him. _Pain_.)

Odasaku has begun to intrigue him.

-

Chuuya comes back, and everything goes back to normal. They bicker, they fight. Dazai wants Chuuya to eat out his hand like a loyal dog, Chuuya wants to stab Dazai at least 5 times a day. Everything is the same.

And yet, Dazai doesn't get bored.

-

He picks up a stray, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke.

Dazai doesn't know if he pities the boy or hates him.

From the technical viewpoint, he's a perfect asset, ability built for assassination. From the strategic viewpoint, he's a liability, but with potential. Too much emotion, too much anger and hate, so much need for approval.

Akutagawa wanted a will to live, a purpose besides killing for his sister.

So Dazai provided him with one; to kill for the Port Mafia, for Mori, for him, for Kouyou, for Chuuya, for Yokohama.

He binds Akutagawa to him with barbed wire and Akutagawa willingly follows.

He lets Gin train under Hirotsu as a reward.

-

Odasaku disapproves of his handling of Akutagawa, his Rabid Dog. A new addition, Ango Sakaguchi, joins soon after.

Dazai views it as a replacement at first, but Ango fills in the spaces between Odasaku and him. Ango was quiet, snarky at times, and a hard worker. His ability was useful, but not if he couldn't defend himself, and Port Mafia needed such people.

(Sometimes, Dazai thinks he sees a darkness lurking in the man, but such could be expected in the Mafia.)

Mori tells him to "guard Ango Sakaguchi". Dazai complies.

Dazai wonders if he meant to guard Ango from others or to guard the Mafia from him.

-

Chuuya gets sent on more overseas missions, and his only missions in Yokohama are usually with Dazai. As a result, he rarely interacts with many from the Mafia as compared to before.

Dazai gets so _bored_.

-

Dazai plays with the Rabid Dog.

Akutagawa had a blind devotion, even more so than Chuuya, but without the ability to back him up. His motivation and drive weren't as stable as Chuuya's, which caused fluctuations in his performance. Akutagawa was used to single-minded killing by stabbing, Dazai needed to change that.

Akutagawa was also an annoying lapdog who constantly looked at Dazai with wide, shining eyes that practically screamed for praise.

Dazai had no such time for things like that, especially not from such a filthy mongrel who couldn't even dodge normal projectiles like knives without getting winded or using his ability.

He had done _so much better_ with Mori, but knowing the annoying doctor, he would probably blame Dazai for being a terrible teacher.

So Dazai makes sure his student learns his lessons.

Gin Akutagawa begins to wear a mask and trains harder.

-

Dazai is entertained for some time, and it's been a few years since he first joined the Mafia, since Mori became boss.

Dazai starts to skip work, only completing the bare minimum required for his duties as an Executive.

Chuuya berates him for it. Chuuya's his sub-Executive anyways, Dazai can't hear him from all the way up at the Executive position.

Chuuya begins to pull away from him, Dazai can tell.

Dazai doesn't chase him.

Dogs came back after their master, not the other way round. He'd come back soon, but for now, he had a bar to go to.

-

When Ango takes a picture of them, Dazai's immediately on high alert.

Ango Sakaguchi can be described as many things, but uselessly sentimental is not one of them.

It's not too hard to connect. The recent reports of an assassin and an organisation. Ango's lesser appearances. Odasaku letting him meet his children.

Mori's tightening of security and employing lesser overseas missions was the most glaring factor.

Still, Dazai finds that it _hurts_ when the news is confirmed.

Ango Sakaguchi is a traitor to the Port Mafia.

Dazai's first reaction is to capture him and break him apart slowly.

But then he remembers Mori's teachings from some book called "The Art of War", to take and not destroy an enemy.

For blackmail purposes, life debts, emotional manipulation and less mess, of course.

Dazai lets Ango go.

-

Dazai sits in Mori's office. Elise is conspicuously absent, and Dazai knows that Mori knows.

They're trading veiled insults and jibes and feeling each other out, as is the only way they know how to communicate.

Two geniuses, stuck in such frail shells.

_What is the worth in the act of living?_

And Dazai realises that Mori has sent Odasaku out for slaughter.

One of _his_ enjoyments that brought him something besides from this emptiness in him.

Mori lets him go, but not before Dazai nearly kills a few guards, looking curious and apathetic, as if to say, "have you really started to care for him?"

The only reason why Dazai doesn't kill Mori and half of the Mafia right there is because he's running out of time, and that Mori truly _does_ have the right to judge souls.

But Dazai does too. And he says no.

-

Dazai blows up Chuuya's car, knowing he'll get mad when he comes back from his mission in a few hours. Dazai throws out his bandages. Dazai leaves his coat in the receiving lounge of the Port Mafia building, like a mockery of a hotel. Dazai's parting gift to Mori is a few hundred thousand yen of stock loss inclusive of property damage.

Ango agrees to bring him to see the light.


	9. Intermission #3

The soul is a tricky thing, a flighty membrane and curious one.

Capturing the soul, re-shaping it is an art, and Dazai is the artist.

Mori brings him through the motions. Dazai perfects them.

Dazai reaps his first soul when he is 17. It's of a business man, in his mid-40s, involved in some business scandal with ties to an organisation that's trying to get into Yokohama.

The feeling of something otherworldly when he reaches out and _pulls_ his Cinematic Records out, when he drags his soul from his body…

It's like giving an addict his first dose of drugs after months of abstinence.

Dazai craves it, craves for more. Dazai and Mori have always been one and the same, cut from the same cloth, two sides of the same coin, obsessive personalities taking them to new heights.

Mori knows, and forces Chuuya to not let him reap souls until he's gotten over the power high, the energy surge.

Dazai doesn't sleep for days.

-

[Journal Entry, Dazai Osamu's notebook]

The cycle of life continues.

I dare not touch Mori's soul. To feel that vicious and simmering darkness underneath that illusion must be uncomfortable. ~~My own would feel the same~~

I touched Chuuya's today. His is cooling and comfortable, almost as if luring someone to sleep. I think I felt Arahabaki.

I wonder if Odasaku's would be pure light.

Stole Ango's glasses, might or might not return them.

Grocery list: canned crab, sake, bandages, choker for Chuuya, tissue, popcorn (to try)

What, truly, is harm? Is it causing others to hurt, is it the action, is it the thought, is it the repercussions? No matter what you do, someone will get hurt, does choosing who to hurt justify hurting others?

Remember to send clothes out to laundry service to wash out bloodstains from session with prisoner AYH-8.

Mori-san wants me to train to manipulate 7 rolls of bandages without directing them physically. Sometimes he's such a sadist and slave driver.

Akutagawa assessment, 9pm @ training room 4

4,  死 , maybe I'll finally be able to die tomorrow?


	10. Sunbathing

Life goes on for Dazai. He lies low for 2 or 3 years, joins the Armed Detective Agency (after being willingly dragged into an exam that he had figured out but played along for), meets new people (read: gets new blackmail and connections, sue him, he was raised in a practical household). He finds Chuuya 2.0 who is somehow more oppressive and annoying with his strict "Ideals" (which raised the question, did people actively seek out their purpose in life? Were there true guidelines on how to live life or is it all just a societal construct, an illusion?). The President, Fukuzawa Yukichi, who had a history with Mori much like him and Chuuya, was the only one who knew his true backstory. The sharp eyed detective, Edogawa Ranpo, could only hazard guesses. The lady doctor, who reminded him of a mix of Chuuya and a much more emotional Akutagawa, was Mori's student too, back in the War.

After Dazai, more people started flooding in. It's almost as if he's a catalyst. There's bright eyed, innocent, Kenji Miyazawa, a cheerful country boy with an obsession of cows. There's the Tanizaki siblings, whose relationship probably shouldn't be elaborated on, with the brother having a useful illusion ability (Dazai craved to study his ability, but held back).

ADA keeps him quite busy. Actually, re-integrating into society does. He had so much information to recover, to familiarize himself, so much time lost.

Dazai gets bored more frequently in the ADA. They specialise in conflict de-escalation or solving cases. They were the in between of the Mafia and the Government, one of the three primary pillars in the foundation of Yokohama's protection. As such, Dazai would attempt to do his job.

Most of the cases were disappointingly easy, there were a few good ones though, such as the Azure Messenger. He finally got Kunikida to start thinking, to become more flexible in his way of life. Such idealistic fools never got far, and it would be a pity to see Kunikida's talent wasted. Besides, who else would do his paperwork and help pretend that the ADA was actually an organisation that had rules regularly adhered to?

(Dazai pretends he doesn't know that Kunikida files an official complaint of him to the President, pretends he didn't pack up his few remaining belongings in case he needs to make a quick escape)

Dazai's also using the ADA for protection. Sure, he's got many enemies who would be even more tempted to strike against him now that they won't incite the rage of the Mafia, but those were easy.

Mori, to keep the peace between the ADA and the Mafia, would not strike out at Dazai unless it was a last resort. Mori's first lesson when he was a young, impressionable child was "don't do anything I wouldn't do", and this was exactly what Mori would have done, used the situation to his advantage and scout further enemies, keeping current ones away.

By extension, the rest of the Mafia would not dare to come after him. Basically, he was under ADA, Mafia, and to some extent the Government's protection. If Dazai were a lesser being he would have preened.

All he needed to do was to watch his step, don't get involved in turf wars and keep an eye out for foreign organisations.

~~Easier said than done.~~


End file.
